Cross bolt safety for single action revolvers

ABSTRACT

A single action revolver has a manually operable safety bolt mounted in the rear of the frame. The cross bolt safety is slideable in a lateral manner with respect to the frame from an inactive position to an active position in which it is adapted to contact the hammer during falling movement and terminate its fall so that the revolver will not fire. A hand secured to the hammer contacts the cross bolt safety as the hammer attains the cocked position and displaces the cross bolt safety from the active position to the inactive position in which the hammer fall is untrammeled.

Enited States Patent [1 Kennedy [451 Jul 23,1974

[ CROSS BOLT SAFETY FOR SINGLE ACTION REVOLVERS [75] Inventor: Ralph C. Kennedy, Wapping, Conn.

[73] Assignee: Colt Industries Operating Corp.

(Firearms Division), Hartford, Conn.

[22] Filed: May 17, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 361,043

Primary Examiner-Benjamin A. Borchelt Assistant ExaminerC. T. Jordan Attorney, Agent, or FirmRadf0rd W. Luther; Richard A. Dornon [57] ABSTRACT A single action revolver has a manually operable safety bolt mounted in the rear of the frame. The cross bolt safety is slideable in a lateral manner with respect to the frame from an inactive position to an active position in which it is adapted to contact the hammer during falling movement and terminate its fall so that the revolver will not fire. A hand secured to the hammer contacts the cross bolt safety as the hammer attains the cocked position and displaces the cross bolt safety from the active position to the inactive position in which the hammer fall is untrammeled.

4 Claims, 14 Drawing Figures CROSS BOLT SAFETY FOR SINGLE ACTION REVOLVERS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to safety devices for single action revolvers.

Conventional single action revolvers are inherently unsafe in that a falling of the hammer from the loading position can occasion a firing of the revolver should a loaded cylinder chamber be aligned with the firing pin. This falling movement could very readily be effected by dropping the revolver on the hammer in such a manner as to cause failure of either the trigger tang or a lip on the loading notch of the hammer. Since the revolver is liable to be dropped during the loading operation, which requires substantial manipulation of the revolver, it would be highly desirable to provide a safety device which is effective when the hammer is in the loading position to prevent an accidental discharge in the event of an inadvertent dropping.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention provides a safety device which is simple, effective and capable of being manufactured at a low cost.

Succinctly stated, a cross bolt safety member is slideably mounted in the rear of the frame of the firearm so as to be displaceable between an inactive position in which the cross bolt safety is clear of the path of the hammer traveled during falling movement to the fired position, and an active position in which the cross bolt safety member is in the path of the hammer during falling movement. The cross bolt safety member of the invention may be applied at the discretion of a user when the hammer occupies an intermediate position such as the loading position. With regard to the loading position, the cross bolt safety member may be so arranged, with respect to the frame and the cylinder, that loading of the cylinder is prevented until the safety member is displaced from the inactive position to the active position. As an ancillary feature of the invention as the hammer moves rearwardly into the cocked position, a hand, which is mounted thereupon, contacts a cam surface on the safety member and displaces the safety member from the active position to the inactive position, whereby the hammer fall engendered by a pulling of the trigger will be unimpeded. Another advantage of the invention is that many existing designs require only minor modifications to incorporate a safety device of the invention.

Accordingly, it is a primary object of the invention to provide a safety device for a single action revolver.

Another object is to provide a safety device which prevents hammer fall to a firing position when the hammer occupies an intermediate position.

A further object is to provide a safety device for a single action revolver which must be applied before the revolver is loaded.

A still further object is to provide a safety device for a single action revolver which is automatically moved from an active position to an inactive position during cocking of the hammer thereof.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a single action re-.

volver incorporating a cross bolt safety member according to the invention.

FIG. 2 is a left side elevational view, partly in section, of the revolver of FIG. 1 with the hammer in the safe position.

FIG. 3 is a right side elevational view of the revolver of FIG. 1, partly in section, with the hammer in the safe position.

FIG. 4 is a rear elevational view of the revolver of FIG. 1, taken substantially along the line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a left side elevational view, partly in section, of the revolver of FIG. 1 with the hammer in the cocked position.

FIG. 6 is a rear elevational view of the firearm of FIG. 1, taken substantially along the line 6-6 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is.a fragmentary longitudinal sectional view of the cross bolt safety member and the surrounding frame showing the engagement of the spring-loaded plunger with the frame.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the cross bolt safety member, per se.

FIG. 8a is a left side elevational view of the cross bolt safety member, taken along the line 8a-8a of FIG. 8.

FIG. 8b is a rear elevational view of the safety member, taken along the line 8b8b of FIG. 8a.

FIGS. and 8d are right side elevationaland bottom views, respectively, of the safety member, taken along the lines 8c-8c and 8d--8d of FIG. 812.

FIG. 9 is a rear elevational view of the hand of the re volver of FIG. 1.

FIG. 10 is a right side elevational view of the hand of FIG. 9, taken along the line l0-10 of FIG. 9.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a perspective view of a generally conventional and well-known single action revolver which comprises a frame 12 and a cylinder 14 rotatably mounted in the frame 12 by means of a cylinder pin (not shown) removably attached to the frame in the usual manner. Cylinder 14 includes a plurality of cartridge chambers 14a and a ratchet 14b secured to the rear face thereof for turning the cylinder between the discrete firing positions thereof. A recess 12a is defined in the right side of frame 12 in such a manner that each of the cylinder chambers may be aligned therewith so as to permit loading and the ejection of spent cartridges. A gate 16, normally received within the recess 12a, is pivoted to the frame 12 such that it can be swung to the open position, as illustrated in FIG. 1, to permit the successive insertion of cartridges into the cylinder chambers 14a as the cylinder is turned. Gate 16 may be swung closed from the open position of FIG. 1 to a position in which the newly inserted cartridges in cylinder 14 are positively retained therein. A revolver of the type shown in FIG. 1 would also typically include a rod (not shown) mounted along a side of the barrel (not shown) to push the spent cartridges out of their respective cylinder chambers.

A hammer 18 is also pivotally secured to the frame 12 and is biased toward the fired position by a leaf spring 20 mounted in the grip portion 22 of the frame 12. A firing pin 18a is carried by the face of the hammer such that it may pass through an aperture 24 in th frame to strike a cartridge in cylinder 14. I

The revolver of FIG. 1 is also provided with a cross bolt safety member 26 secured in a cavity in the rear portion of the frame 12 and movable transversely or laterally of the frame 12 such that it may be displaced from the illustrated inactive position to an active position whereby the fall of hammer 18 to the fired position is prevented. In FIG. 1, the hammer 18 has been moved rearwardly to the cocked position, which action effects a displacement of the safety member 26 to the illustrated inactive position if the safety member is not already in such a position. Further details of the cross bolt safety member of the invention, as well as the conventional components of the revolver of FIG. 1, are shown on the succeeding figures.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a drive pawl or hand 28 is adapted to engage the teeth of ratchet 14b to rotate the cylinder 14 in the usual manner. The hand 28 is spring urged against the ratchet 14b by means of a leaf spring 30 and is connected at its lower end to the base of the hammer 18 by means of a pin 32 projecting laterally from the hand and integral therewith. The hammer 18, in turn, is connected to the frame 12 by means of a screw 34 inserted through an aperture in the base of the hammer. Formed on the base portion of the hammer 18 is a notch 36, defined by a lip 38, and a sear 40. The notch 36 functions as a safety notch for holding the hammer off the firing pin, and also functions as a loading notch to maintain the hammer in a loading position in which the cylinder 14 is unlocked so that it may be freely rotated during the insertion of cartridges therein. To render the revolver safe, the safety member 26 may be applied when the hammer 18 is in the loading position.

The base portion of the hammer 18 is also furnished with an additional notch 39 similar to notch 36 and disposed thereabove. Notch 39 merely serves to ensure that the hammer 18 will not return to the fired position should it be released before the trigger tang is positioned under the loading notch. Although notch 39 may be utilized to hold the hammer 18 off the fired position, it should be noted that this does not constitute a safe position since the illustrated safety member 26 cannot be applied in this position due to its size and relative location. This is attributable to the geometry of the particular revolver depicted to illustrate the invention. It will, therefore, be understood that the invention is in no way limited to revolvers in which the safety member thereof may be applied in only one hammer position, but that it embraces revolvers in which it may be applied in a plurality of hammer positions.

A trigger 42, having a tang 42a which terminates in a sear 42b, is pivotally mounted on a trigger screw 44 which is secured to the frame 12 and extends transversely thereof. As is the case in a typical single action revolver, the trigger tang 42a is adapted to be received in the notch 36 for holding the hammer in the loading position, and the trigger sear 42b is adapted to engage the hammer sear 40 for retaining the hammer in the cocked position. A sloping surface 42c on the trigger 42 is contacted by one of the legs of a bifurcated leaf spring 46 to urge trigger rotation in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 2.

The other leg of leaf spring 46 biases a cylinder lock 48 in a clockwise direction about a mounting pin 50 such that a projection 48a on the cylinder lock 48 is urged into one of the circumferentially spaced locking notches 52 on the periphery of the cylinder 14. The rear segment of the cylinder lock 48 is contacted by a projection 54 on the hammer 18 during rearward movement of the hammer 18 for unlocking the cylinder 14.

As depicted in FIGS. 2 and 3, the cross bolt safety member 26 is mounted within a cavity 56 in frame 12 for axially sliding movement therein transversely or laterally of the frame. Before a discussion of the interaction between the hammer l8 and the safety member 26, the construction of the safety member, per se, should be briefly examined. As shown in FIGS. 8, and 8a-8d, the cross bolt safety member 26 is constituted by a cylindrical body portion 26a having an upstanding, generally rectanular, projection 26b thereupon at the right end of the body portion 26a. The projection 26b is partially defined by a vertical wall 26c which extends to a plannar hammer contact surface 26d and an adjacent rounded surface 26e, the surfaces being parallel to the axis of the cylindrical body portion 26a. The projection 26b is further defined by vertical sides 26f and 26g and a serrated end surface 26h which is parallel to the wall 260. The right end of the safety member has a flat sloping surface 261' which extends from the base of the end surface 26h to the bottom of the body portion 26a to provide for clearance of the gate 16. Cylindrical portion 26a terminates in a flat cam surface 26j which is oblique to the axis of the cylindrical portion 26a. It will be noted that the surface 26j is terminated slightly before reaching the rear periphery of the cylindrical portion 26a to define another flat surface 26k which is of a small area and lies perpendicular to the axis of the cylindrical portion 26a.

The mounting of the safety member 26 in the frame 12 may best be appreciated by reference to FIGS. 1 through 7. The cavity 56, in which the safety member 26 is mounted, extends laterally through the side wall 58 of the hammer recess such that in the active position of the safety member (depicted in FIG. 4), the contact surface 26d is positioned in the hammer recess so that it is adapted to contact the front face of the hammer 18 if a falling of the hammer should be occasioned. In the inactive position of safety member 26 (FIGS. 1, 5 and 6), the wall 26c of the projection 26b is slightly recessed from the inboard face of the side wall 58,

whereby the hammer fall will be unimpeded by the safety member. It will be noted particularly from FIGS. 1, 5 and 6 that cavity 56 in the frame proper has a rearward facing opening 56a adjacent the side wall 58 to permit lateral movement of the projection 26 therein. The wall 26c of safety member 26 contacts the left boundary of the opening 56a in the active position of the safety member 26, the left boundary thereby defining a stop surface.

As shown in FIG. 7, the safety member 26 incorporates a plunger 60 adapted to be received in a recess 61 (which communicates with cavity 56) for retaining the safety member in the active position. A similar recess (not shown) is adapted to receive the plunger 60 for retaining the member in the inactive position. The safety member 26 is thereby restrained against lateral displacements when it occupies either the active position or the inactive position.

As best shown in FIGS. 2 through 6, the hand 28, which serves to rotate the cylinder between its discrete firing positions, is mounted for upward and downward movement in a channel 62 in the left-hand'side of the frame 12. Channel 62 communicates with the cavity 56 to permit the left end of the safety member to move into the channel 62 during its movement from the inactive position to the active position and to move out of the channel 62 during its movement from the active position to the inactive position. It should be apparent that when the hammer 18 is in its fired position, it is not possible to move the safety member from the inactive position to the active position since the wall 260 of the safety member is closely adjacent the right side of the hammer 18 whereby such an attempted displacement will cause contact between the wall 260 and the side of the hammer 18.

The construction of the hand 28 is shown in detail in FIGS. 9 and 10. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the hand 28 is a generally conventional twostep hand insofar as its interaction with the ratchet is concerned. The hub of the hand 28 has the usual recess 64 for containing the the bent lower extremity of the hand spring 30 and a recess 66 in the upper portion of the hand 28 to provide for clearances between the hand and the upper extremity of the hand spring 30. The only significant difference between the hand 28 and a conventional hand is that the right upper rear surface 68 of the hand 28 constitutes a surface which is adapted to contact the oblique surface 26j of the safety member 26 as the hammer moves into the cocked position, and to subsequently displace the safety member 26 rightwardly from its active position to its inactive position whereby a subsequent hammer fall, engendered by a pulling of the trigger 42, will be unimpeded. Hence, in the illustrated embodiment, the hand serves a dual function in that it turns the cylinder and displaces the safety member from the active position during rearward cocking movement of the hammer 18. It should also be noted, with particular reference to FIGS. 1 and 6, that the safety member 26 prevents insertion of a cartridge in cylinder chamber 14a when the safety member occupies its inactive position. Hence, if the hammer is moved rearwardly to its loading position and the trigger tang inserted in notch 36, no cartridges can be chambered in the cylinder 14 until the safety member 26 is pushed leftwardly to its inactive position, whereby the projection 26b moves out of alignment with a chamber in loading position.

OPERATION Assuming that the hammer 18 is in the fired position, and that the cylinder 14 is empty, in order to load the cylinder 14, it is necessary to move the hammer l8 rearwardly to its loading position, wherein the tang 42a of trigger 42 is inserted into notch 36. The cylinder may now be turned freely since the projection 48a is removed from a locking notch 52. The gate '16 may now be swung to the open position of FIG. 1 to load cartridges in the cylinder chambers 14. To insert a cartridge in a cylinder chamber, it is necessary to displace the safety member 26 from the position of FIG. 6 to the position of FIG. 4. This action may be effected by manual depression of the safety member 26 such that the projection 26b is moved further into cavity 56 or by the insertion of a cartridge into a cylinder chamber. It will be noted that when the safety member 26 is in the active position of FIG. 4, the hammer 18 cannot fall to the fired position. For example, assume that the hammer 18 is dropped in the loading position in such a manner as to cause the hammer spur to contact the ground with sufficient force to break the lip 38 of the notch in which the trigger tang 42a is inserted; the hammer 18 will indeed fall towards the fired position after being struck in such a manner, but its fall will be terminated by the engagement between the front face of the hammer 18 and the stop surface 26d of the safety member 26.

Assuming now that the hammer 18 is in the loading position of FIG. 2, and that the safety member 26 is in its active position, to cock the hammer 18, the hammer 18 is moved rearwardly until the trigger sear 42b engages the hammer sear 40, as illustrated in FIG. 5. During this rearward movement of the hammer 18, when the hammer 18 is at a predetermined position between its loading position and its cocked position, the surface 68 on the hand 28 contacts the surface 26j of member 26. During the remaining portion of the hammers rearward movement to the cocked position, the cam surface 68-effects a rightward lateral displacement of the safety member 26 such that just prior to the hammers attainment of the cocked position, the safety member 26 is moved into the inactive position in which the plunger 60 snaps into the adjacent recess, thereby rendering the safety member 26 ineffective to block the fall'of. the hammer 18 when the trigger is pulled.

Should a user of the revolver not wish to fire after the hammer 18 is placed in a cocked position, it is merely necessary to disengage the respective sears (42b and 40) on the trigger 42 and the hammer l8 and slowly lower the hammer 18 until the tang 42a is inserted into notch 36 and to subsequently move the safety member 26 from the inactive position (in which it was placed during cocking) to the active position to render the revolver completely safe from accidental discharge. A subsequent cocking of the hammer 18 will, of course, again'displace the safety member 26 from the active position to the inactive position.

It will be appreciated that a safety member according to the invention is not limited to the geometry depicted. Also, the invention should not be construed as being limited to those safety members which are moved to an inactive position by the hand of the revolver since equivalent structures would accomplish this purpose.

Obviously, many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An improved single action revolver of the type comprising a frame, a hammer, having a loading notch and a sear thereupon, secured to the frame for pivotal movement between cocked and fired positions, a trigger mounted upon the frame and having a tang for reception in the loading notch when the hammer is intermediate the cocked and fired positions and engagement with the sear when the hammer is in the cocked position, a cylinder, having a plurality of chambers, mounted on the frame for movement between discrete firing positions, a hand connected to the hammer for moving the cylinder between the discrete firing positions, and the frame including a recess adapted to be aligned with the respective cylinder chambers as the cylinder is rotated so as to permit the loading of cartridges therein, and wherein the improvement comprises:

a safety member, having a hammer contact surface,

means to automatically displace the safety member from the active position to the inactive position as the hammer is moved from the intermediate position to the cocked position; and

means to retain the safety member in the inactive position during hammer fall. 2. The improvement of claim 1, wherein the displacing means comprises:

a cam surface on the safety member; and

a surface on the hand adapted to engage the cam surface.

3. The improvement of claim 1, further including:

means to retain the safety member in the active position.

4. The improvement of claim 1, wherein the safety member comprises:

a cylindrical body portion having a projection thereupon at and end thereof, the hammer contact surface being upon the projection, the projection lying respectively in and out of the path of the hammer in the active position and the inactive position. 

1. An improved single action revolver of the type comprising a frame, a hammer, having a loading notch and a sear thereupon, secured to the frame for pivotal movement between cocked and fired positions, a trigger mounted upon the frame and having a tang for reception in the loading notch when the hammer is intermediate the cocked and fired positions and engagement with the sear when the hammer is in the cocked position, a cylinder, having a plurality of chambers, mounted on the frame for movement between discrete firing positions, a hand connected to the hammer for moving the cylinder between the discrete firing positions, and the frame including a recess adapted to be aligned with the respective cylinder chambers as the cylinder is rotated so as to permit the loading of cartridges therein, and wherein the improvement comprises: a safety member, having a hammer contact surface, mounted in the frame for sliding movement transverse to the frame between an inactive position in which hammer fall is unimpeded and an active position in which hammer fall from the intermediate position is impeded, the hammer contact surface being adapted to contact the hammer during falling movement when the safety member is in the active position such that hammer fall is terminated short of the fired position, the safety member extending into the recess a distance sufficient to prevent loading of the cylinder when in the inactive position thereof; means to automatically displace the safety member from the active position to the inactive position as the hammer is moved from the intermediate position to the cocked position; and means to retain the safety member in the inactive position during hammer fall.
 2. The improvement of claim 1, wherein the displacing means comprises: a cam surface on the safety member; and a surface on the hand adapted to engage the cam surface.
 3. The improvement of claim 1, further including: means to retain the safety member in the active position.
 4. The improvement of claim 1, wherein the safety member comprises: a cylindrical body portion having a projection thereupon at and end thereof, the hammer contact surface being upon the projection, the projection lying respectively in and out of the path of the hammer in the active position and the inactive position. 